Got too much on? It’s time to prioritise

“Ruthless prioritisation” sounds fancy and makes you feel like a hardcore business person. Get on it.

Wanna know the secret of people who always seem to get things done and never look stressed? It’s in the first line there: ruthless prioritisation. That means they have a constant to-do list – written down and/or in their heads – and they rank the tasks they need to complete. They prioritise.

It’s not that difficult, once you get in the habit. The first step is to make that to-do list. Sit at your desk and write down every single thing you have to do this week. Then go for a quick walk because you’ve stressed yourself out with this mountain of work.

When you get back, put a number from 1 to… whatever next to each task. That’s the order you’re going to do them in. Yeah, we shoulda told you that before you wrote down the numbers – it’s OK, you can change them.

In fact, you’re going to right now

If all you were doing was putting them in order, there’d be no ruthlessness, would there? That’s why, once you’ve renumbered your tasks, you’re going to delete everything but the top five.

They’re the tasks you’re going to focus on. Give them everything you’ve got. Smash through them – one at a time. Don’t even think about the list until you’ve completed a task.

Don’t you feel stronger already? Like things are under control? That crossing something off your list is an actual achievement? Yeah you do.

Once you’ve finished those five things, start again

Write the list, go for a walk, number them, delete the unimportant stuff and launch back in. This is your life now, you prioritise.